Clocking device for detail-strips



H. C. BURKE.

CLOCKING DEVICE FOR DETAIL STRIPS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 11. I917.

' 1,393,342, Patented 00a 1921.

2 SHEET EET l.

Harry C ulke H. c. BURKE..

CLOCKING DEVICE FOR DETAIL STRIPS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11. 1911.

1,393,342. Patented 0ct..1 1,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1 -//7 yenfw" W 2 Harry C5urke i To all whom it may concern:

"STATES PATENT OFFICE? HARR c. BURKE, or SANTA Ana, CALIFORNIA.

Be it known that I, IIARRY C. BURKE, a citizen, of the United States, residing at Santa Ana, in' the county of Orange, State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Clocking Devices for Detail-Strips, .of which the following is a specification. .v I

This invention relates ,to improvements in such devices as cash registers; and itis an object of this invention to provide an attachment for a cash register'to prevent salesmen from beating 7 the register.

The difficulty which this invention is designed to overcome may be explained as follows; Especially in business houses where numerous small sales are made, it is very easy for the salesman, if he takes the customers money and operates the register, to take out money forhimself; and the temptation to do so is very great onaccount of the ease of taking out money. For instance, at a soda fountain or bar the salesman can serve a number of parties, wait untilall of the parties have laid down their money be.- fore taking it up, and then ring up all the sales in quick succession, registering a deficient amount for one or more of the'first purchases he rings up, and registeringthe correct amount for the last one rung up; so

that the cash register will finally indicate a correct'a'mount for one of the purchases. The salesman can .do this without being detected; and, where he makes a considerable amount of sales in a day, he can keep out for himself an amount perhaps equal to his dayzls wage without the shortage being notice V l It is an object of this invention to overcome these difficulties and to make it very difiicult fora. salesman to carry'on' such a practice without being detected.

In accomplishing this object, I provide a device which will automatically mark upon the detail strip of a cash register, at periodic intervals, the time of day. By such a means i I divide the detail strip into small periods,

say of fifteen minutes each. In order to 'de- 7 I ,tect a dishonest salesman, it is then onlynecessary Q to keep a watch upon his business Speeificationof Letters Patent;

CLOCKING DEVICE FOR DETAIL-STBTPS.

f Patented Oct. 11, 11921.:

Application .filed September 17, 1917. SerialNo. 191,888.

during some one or morefifteen minute :p'eriods unknown to the salesman. The pro:- prletor or managercan easily keep track of the business done by the salesman (by counting the number of customers served) durlng a fifteen mlnute period, and then, by

inspection of thedetail strip for that period,

he can determine Whether or not the salesmanhasrung up the proper amount on the cashregister. The salesman of course'does not'know durlng what fifteen minute period he may be watched; and if my device and system areexplained' to a salesman when he isemployed it will make him understand that he; cannot cheat his employer-will make him morally afraid to do understood by reference to the following specification wherein I explain in detail a preferred form of my device, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings,-in 'which Figurell. is a vertical section showing a typical-- form of cash register mechanism and its detail strip, this section being taken as The invention, and its use, will be best indicated'by line 1+1 on Fig. 3; Fig. 2 is another similar section taken as indicated byline 22. on Fig. 8, showing a partpof myattached mechanism, Fig. 3 is a section taken as-indicated by line 3--3 on Fig.; 2,

and Fig. 4 is a face view ofthe clock which I employ.

In the drawings the numeral10 designates the detail strip of a cash register. This de tail strip passes from roll 11 to roll 12 over a platen-13, striker 13, and under theprinting wheels 14, 15, 16,17,- etc., of the register mechanism. These printing wheels may be of the ordinary kind; wheels 16 and 17 may be adapted to register the amount purchased in dollars and cents; wheel 14 may'be'adaptprinting wheels by the usual cash register mechanism whenever the cash register is operated. In such mechanism it is customary to move the take-up roll 12 whenever the striker is moved to perform a printing operation. For this purpose any customary mechanism may be employed since the in vention resides in the combination of the features hereinafter set forth with the usual cash register mechanism for performing the printing operation. In the drawings there is shown, connected to the striker 13 an arm 14 pivotally connected at one end by means of a pin 15 to a link 16, which itself is supported upon the take-up roll shaft. The for ward end of the arm 14; is in the form of a pawl to engage a ratchet 17 connected to the take-up roll. From the above description, it will be evident that upon upward movement of the striker the forward end of the arm 14 is drawn back and engages the ratchet 1'7 to actuate the take up roll 12 and move the strip 10. I do not make any claim to the general cash register mechanism; but only to the combination of my attachment, and the attachment itself.

For the purpose of my invention the detail strip 10 is made wider than usual so that it will also pass under two printing wheels 20 and 21. Printing wheel 20 is adapted to print the hour of the day and is mounted upon the shaft 22 of clock mechanism 23 to rotate with the hour hand 24: of the clock mechanism. The wheel 21 is adapted to print the minute periods of the day and is mounted upon the shaft 25 which carries the minute hand 26. In the platen 13, beneath the wheels 20 and 21, I mount my special striker 27 which strikes the detail strip 10 uptoward the printing wheels 20 and 21, pressing the detail strip against the im pression strip 28 which runs beneath all of the printing wheels. This striker 27 is automatically operated from the clock mechanism. An arm 30 projects beneath the striker 27 and is mounted upon a rock shaft 31. Rock shaft 31 projects into the clock mechanism and therein has an arm 32 mounted upon it. Arm 32 follows the periphery of a cam 33 which has two projections or teeth 34 over the edge of which the end of arm 32 drops (upwardly) at 15 min-' ute intervals; a spring 35 being employed to pull the arm 32 upwardly. Cam 33 may be connected by gears, indicated at 36, to the shaft 25 carrying minute hand 26; the ratio between these gears in the present case being 2 to 1. At each quarter hour interval,

when a minute printing character 21 on wheel 21 is opposite the detail strip 10, then the arm 32 moves upwardly quickly over the edge of a tooth 3 1 and this action, through the medium of shaft 31 and arm 30,

throws striker 27 quickly upwardly so that the striker is thrown against the detail strip; causing the hour and the fifteen minute period of the day to be printed upon the detail strip. In order to move the detail strip at least one space between consecutive time markings (to prevent consecutive markings being made over each other, if no sales have been made during the fifteen minute interval) the roll 12 may be moved forward a space each time the arm 30 moves. This movement may preferably take place 'ust previous to the striking movement of striker 27, and may be caused by the arm 32 moving down when a tooth 31 presses it down just previous to the upward movement of the arm. The roll 12 may have a ratchet wheel 40 and a pawl 4L1 may engage the wheel and be operated by a connecting arm 12 connected with the striker arm 30.

It will be seen that with my attachment the detail strip, upon which all of the purchases are recorded, is marked so as to be divided into short time periods. This division into short time periods makes it practically impossible or at least very difficult and dangerous for a salesman to attempt taking out money for himself; because the salesman cannot know during what fifteen minute period his transactions may be watched; and because it is comparatively easy for the proprietor or manager to watc 1 the transactions for fifteen minutes, where it is impractical for him to watch those transactions during the whole day. The recording of the number of customers also forms a check on the salesmans business; in some businesses the manager needs only to count the number of customers to know approximately how much cash the salesman has received.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

1.In combination with a cash register mechanism having a detail strip, means for printing thereon, and means whereby said detail strip may be advanced by operation of the cash register mechanism so that successive printings thereon are distributed along its length; means for automaticall marking the time of day upon the detail strip, and means cooperating with the time marking mechanism to advance the detail strip at each time printing, said last mentioned advancing mechanism being operable independently of said cash register mechanism.

2. In combination with a cash register mechanism having a detail strip, means for printing thereon, and means whereby said detail strip may be advanced by operation of the cash register mechanism so that sucessive printings thereon are distributed along its length; time printing members arthe detail strip at each time printing im- 10 ranged in proximity to the detail strip, a pression.

clock mechanism operating said members, In Witness that I claim the foregoing I means controlled by the clock mechanism for have hereunto subscribed my name this 5th causing impressions of the time printing day of September, 1917,.

members on the detail strip at periodic in- HARRY C. BURKE. tervals, and means controlled by the clock \Vitnesses:

mechanism and operating independently of F. W. MANSUR,

the cash register mechanism for advancing B. D. PARKER. 

